Canadiana

It has been about 2 months since I been back in Ottawa and it was been a jam packed spring and more to come in the summer. I thought it would be nice to share some pictures of what I actually do in Ottawa and what people in general do in the country known for its public health care system, for being nice, and Pamela Anderson (a Vietnamese person actually associated Canada with her ...).

The ING Marathon race draws thousands of runners from around the world.

Ottawa is a very active city, if you are near the river or the famous Canal you'll likely be passed by runners and cyclists. I was in much better shape before and after I was in Vietnam - I actually ran a half marathon last year and can't imagine being able to run one right now! I know I was a bit 'unexcited' when I came back to Ottawa but being back for the last while I realize what I really missed about the city. Running along the river with Parliament in the background, inhaling fresh air into my lungs and being surrounded by green space can't be beat. Grass was a novelty in Hanoi and you aren't even allowed to walk on it in Beijing parks.

Camping in Algonquin Provincial Park

I went portaging for the first time last year. Kate is like my camp counsellor - she gives me instruction, encourages me to be adventurous, but doesn't make me do anything, plus we like to hang out with each other. For all my non-camping friends out there - portaging is when you go camping but get from spot to spot with canoes and therefore must carry the canoe over your head when moving by land. I am sure my Vietnamese friends would find this slighty a wild idea especially when they thought I was a bit crazy for hiking Mt. Fanxipan ... I still think I am crazy for doing that and I have my battle scars to remind me! We are heading back to the same camp site next weekened plus adding another night to go to a natural rock water slide, which I am very excited to conquest.

So we tried to make a turkey ...

Well I didn't really help at all, but I did eat a lot of the 20 pound plus bird. We had a huge New Year's Day dinner one year and told people to bring tupperware because we didn't want to be eating turkey non stop for a month. I had a hard time describing what a turkey was when I was explaining what Canadians eat for Christmas. I normally don't even eat turkey when I go home for the holidays. In my family we usually have lobster and roasted duck (hence my addiction to bbq duck when I was in Vietnam). I never realized how much work and equipment you actually need to make a turkey - a huge pan, a baser (I don't even know how to spell it), chains to lift the bird out of the pan, a thermometer (so you can make sure it's cooked all the way through), and lots of other gadget things that I don't know the name for.

My relatives who came to Canada in 1980 who now live in Toronto and the new wave of Nguyen's. For some reason I never make it into the family photos!

I was in Toronto last weekend and got to meet up with my cousin Tung. His dad came to Canada first and Tung moved to Halifax when he was in about grade 2. He is only a few months younger than me but pulls rank over me since his dad is older than my dad (which I always thought was unfair when I was a kid). I was really excited to talk to him about my time in Vietnam because he still remembers it, it has not left his memory. I was able to show him photos of our relatives and maybe the sad part was, he could see that they have aged (he was back in 2000). But to me I will always see them as when I first met them. It's hard to even think of them as being young parents as most are over 60 and grandparents now.

So I am feeling quite normal again. I work Monday to Friday (I get Friday's off in the summer ... woohoo!) from 8:30 to 5:00, have my extra-curricular activities in the evening (ultimate, swimming, Ottawa sport and social club), and relax and hang out during the weekends. I had some visitors in the last couple of weeks and been enjoying catching up with old friends. Kersten was down visiting from Yellowknife and I am hoping to visit her in the 'knife next year in the spring, definitely not during the winter. The weather is getting warmer and warmer but I keep thinking winter is around the corner since I relate a year, a cycle, with experiencing all the 4 seasons - so 2006 has not ended in my head until I see snow!

My mom has never actually read my blog because she refuses to learn how to use a computer!

I was ready to come home because I needed to calm myself down. I was doing so many things, lived in the expat bubble, felt I was becoming a little pompous and knew it was time to get grounded which ironicially meant coming back to the place that I call home in Canada. Don't get me wrong, living in Vietnam was a wonderful experience, but it didn't feel like I could genuinely appreciate it until I left. It is not the end, I am already trying to figure out when I will be back next. My next stop though, is my birth home, heading to Sydney in August (couldn't go back earlier since I can't take time off during my probation period at work) to see my mom - it will be almost year since I seen her and can't wait to give her a big hug. I see her in new eyes, I feel like I got to know her so much better although not through conversations but being able to see the different periods of her life, where she grew up as a child, her thriving during the prime of her life, and the heart ache she had to endure when making the decision to leave her family and country in a small raft with her husband and baby wearing only her humble possessions.